- The Veteran Journalist was at the heart of a standoff on Wednesday morning that saw him bundled into a car in what earlier appeared to be an abduction only for the DCI to say later it was a case of mistaken identity.
- After a long day of ups and downs over the case, Gaitho on Wednesday evening assured kenyans of his well-being and said the incident had not cowed him.
Veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho has thanked Kenyans for standing with him after his Wednesday ordeal with detectives.
The Veteran Journalist was at the heart of a standoff on Wednesday morning that saw him bundled into a car in what earlier appeared to be an abduction only for the DCI to say later it was a case of mistaken identity.
Gaitho, who said he was manhandled during the incident, would later be released with police releasing a statement regretting the whole drama.
After a long day of ups and downs over the case, Gaitho on Wednesday evening assured kenyans of his well-being and said the incident had not cowed him.
"Family, I am free and safe after a long and terrible day. Thank you all for solidarity. You ensured that the criminals posing as law enforcement officers who violently abducted me this morning were forced to set me free within a relatively short time. Ahsanteni. I am not cowed," Gaitho said on X.
Gaitho was violently arrested by people he said refused to identify themselves at Karen Police Station.
The journalist who was in the company of his son was driven to the police station after the individuals tried to abduct him outside the gate of his home.
They were in a convoy of two cars.
In a video seen by the Star, the journalist was shoved into a white Probox inside the station by people in civilian clothes as police looked.
The video was taken by his son who was also the driver of his vehicle at the time the drama unfolded.
The Director of Criminal Investigation Mohamed Amin would later on say that the arrest was a case of mistaken identity.
"We are sorry to Gaitho. It was a case of mistaken identity," Amin said.
Amin said they were looking for a social media influencer Francis Gaitho.
The National Police Service (NPS) also described the arrest as "highly regrettable".
Speaking after his release, however, Macharia Gaitho told off the DCI on allegations that his alleged abduction was a case of mistaken identity.
He dismissed the narrative saying the difference between him and the man they claim they wanted is a world apart.
"That Francis Gaitho, they claim they are looking for, I am twice his age. He does not live where I live because they trailed me from my home, as far as I know. He does not drive the same car and me. It is me they were looking for, It is me they were trailing," the veteran journalist said.
He questioned how they could have traced him to the point of abduction at Karen Police Station and still claimed they had mistaken him for another.